I received an email this morning through the contact form on my online portfolio. At first glance it seemed like a nice compliment…

“MESSAGE 1: Paul, I have spent the last hour pouring over all of your work, and it is fantastic. Certainly, I am studying for a degree in Graphic Design and Mass Media and, after graduation, hope to land a job as a Multimedia Designer. Finding you and seeing what you have all been involved in makes me very excited about this field of study. If you don t mind, and if you have time, I was wondering if you could answer just a few questions I have about what you do and how you do it. They won’t be too tough and shouldn t take much time to answer, I promise! If you are willing please let me know.”

My first thought was cool, I guess I can spare a little time to help someone out who wants to break into this industry. But, as I continued going through my morning email I came across this one, also from the contact form on my portfolio site…

“MESSAGE 2: hello,im xiau here,can knw more about you? cause i have to write a report about mutimedia designer… Insite my report,my content must have,designer’s introduction,background profile,portfolio,style of act work and achievement. Can you be my multimedia designer’s target? hope to hear from you soon…”

At this point, I’m thinking… that’s odd, a second email regarding questions about being a Multimedia Designer, except this one doesn’t look quite right. Now, I suppose it’s possible that there is some kind of class assignment somewhere, and my site was passed around (to a foreign exchange student who doesn’t speak much english), but the second email looks a lot like spam to me. But, I didn’t think about this too much. I continued going through my email, until I saw a third one, this time from the contact form on this site (One Digital life)…

“MESSAGE 3: Hi, doing some it coursework calld Dance o clock and was wondering if i could use a pic, this is not be seen by anyone exept the examiner and i will only use the pic for this course work Thanks If you dont reply with in 1 day i will take it as a yes (Sorry have to say that, teachers orders)”

This last one is a fair amount different in that it doesn’t mention Multimedia. But, it is odd that all 3 relate to education is some way, and I received them all in one night.

So, what do you think… do I have 3 legitimate emails, 3 spams, or some of each with an odd coincidence in timiing?